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You have to admire Sam Allardyce for just how wrong he gets it with latest Mike Ashley and Rafa Benitez comments

Despite having spent only seven months at St James Park before getting the sack, Newcastle United is Allardyce’s favourite topic when out of work.

Still counting his latest pay-off, from Everton this time, Sam Allardyce has been talking about NUFC and thi summer’s transfers.

Quite amazing just how wrong he gets it, whether deliberately or not, Allardyce saying about this summer’s transfer window: ‘The Newcastle fans give Mike Ashley a lot of stick but he is the owner of the football club and he has put his money in. Whether that is enough or not he decides how much money he wants to give the club and it’s up to you as the manager to try and spend that as wisely as you can.’

Well Mike Ashley forced Rafa Benitez to generate a £20m+ profit on deals in and out this summer, the club’s 13 years (and counting) record transfer fee very safe, as Rafa wasn’t even allowed to even £10m on a player.

In fact, of the seven incoming deals, two were on loan, another a free transfer, with then fees of £3m, £4m, £6m and £9.5m for the other four. Mitrovic alone was sold for £22m, which could rise to £27m.

The most laughable part of all is Sam Allardyce saying Mike Ashley has put his money in this summer and so it was up to Rafa Benitez to ‘spend that as wisely’ as he could.

Ironically, the latest Newcastle United Fans Forum minutes saw the club admit, though it was very well hidden away, that rather than putting money in as Allardyce would have it, Mike Ashley actually took money out of the club this summer. It was laughable as in the minutes the club claimed that they had tried to sign players well above the £16.8m Michael Owen record, but that they couldn’t find any of these players who were willing to sign. So after the transfer window closed the owner took out money instead.

Sam Allardcye says ‘Only time will tell if Rafa has’ spent ‘wisely’ this summer…it is a whole lot easier to spend ‘wisely’ when most clubs this summer had a net spend at least £50m more than Rafa did, or in some cases such as Fulham and West Ham, net spends of over £100m higher than NUFC.

“If you are going to be successful, harmony at the top (of a football club) is very important – communication and pulling in the right direction.

“Whether that’s happening with Rafa Benitez and Mike Ashley, I’m not privy to that information, but certainly, from my point of view as a manager, the relationship between the owners and you as a manager is critical.

“A club can succeed but you have to put your differences to one side, both the owner and you, as the manager, and work together to get on with the job. Whether you like each other or not doesn’t particularly matter; as long as you do the business and the best for the football club.

“I was there (at Newcastle) for seven months and never really had a relationship with Mike – he wasn’t the type. He wanted other people to run the club and he wanted to come along and enjoy the ride. I don’t know whether that’s changed or not.

“Because (in the transfer market Benitez is) limited, as we all find ourselves with whatever club we’re at, we try and use our tactics and the players we’ve got to the best of our ability.

“Whether that is enough or not he decides how much money he wants to give the club and it’s up to you as the manager to try and spend that as wisely as you can.

“Only time will tell if Rafa has.

“He certainly did last year; he finished very, very strongly. This year’s a difficult start but maybe again they’ll come through. New players again – we all have to settle players in very quickly, and that’s very demanding as a manager.

“Early days yet – we saw West Ham go four defeats on the trot and then they came around against Everton and Manchester United.

“There has to be a bit of light at the end of the tunnel when you score two very good goals in the space of 10 minutes, as we saw (for Newcastle) at Old Trafford.”

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